There are many ways in which nonprofit organizations can combine, affiliate, or otherwise come together. Some involve a complete integration of programs, activities, membership, donors, sponsors, volunteer leadership, and staff, while some provide for maintaining varying degrees of separateness and autonomy. There are pros, cons, and considerations to take into account for each option. And sometimes one option can be a stepping stone to a fuller combination. Often the decisions are based on legal, tax, and financial concerns, control versus autonomy is almost always a major consideration, politics and personalities typically play a starring role, and usually a combination of all of these factors affect both the process and the result.

This program will lay out some of the primary means by which nonprofit organizations frequently combine, affiliate, and otherwise come together. From mergers and consolidations to asset transfers and dissolutions to federations to parent-subsidiary relationships to the management company model to partnerships, joint ventures, and strategic alliances, we will explain what they each mean, provide real-life, practical examples, discuss proven negotiation strategies, learn how sometimes “living together before getting married” is the best approach, explore common pitfalls, roadblocks, and elements of success and failure, and highlight the key benefits, detriments, and primary considerations that come into play with each option.